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Oct. 9, 1962 3,057,354

D. R. ROBERTS ETAL SUPPORTING DEVICE Filed April 13. 1959 3,057,354 SUPPORTING DEVICE Donald R. Roberts, North Plainfield, and Mary H. Mc-

Guire, New Brunswick, N.J., assignors to Personal Products Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 806,112 4 Claims. (Cl. 128-289) This invention rel-ates to belts for supporting sanitary napkins and more particularly to a sanitary belt comprising fabric tape sections to form adjusting means for said belts. These tape sections are composed of certain unique materials which will allow the belt to be assembled quickly and economically and also allows the tabs of the belt to be lengthened or shortened at will by the simple process of peeling one piece of fabric from another and then pressing them back into proper adjusted position.

The unique materials referred to are actually two. One material is a plain nylon tape, formed with a multitude of catch elements such as nylon loops or hooks on one face, the remaining face being plain; the other material is also a plain nylon tape, but is faced with an extremely high tufted nylon fiber on one face, the remaining face is plain. When the faces of these two tapes are brought together by finger pressure, they interlock and provide a variable fastening means.

To the attainment of the above mentioned objects and advantages, the present invention consists in the novel features disclosed hithertofore and to be further disclosed and claimed hereinafter. And it is to be construed that the disclosure made herein is only one phase of its use and is not intended to be limiting in its scope or possible applications.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view of the improved sanitary belt with normal means employed for adjusting the extensible waistband but showing the new adjustable depending tabs;

FIG. 2 is a view of the two new fabric tapes opened up and showing the means for interlocking them;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the two fabric tapes ready for placing together for interlocking;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the two fabric tapes interlocked by finger pressure;

FIG. 5 is a partial view of the extensible belt with the fabric tape material used to fasten the dependent tab to the belt without stitching;

FIG. 6 is a partial View of the extensible belt showing another method of using the fabric tape to fasten the dependent tab to the belt without stitching;

FIG. 7 is a partial view of the extensible belt in which the fabric tape has been substituted for the standard buckle extension means and is shown in fully extended position; and

FIG. 8 is a partial view as shown in FIG. 7 but with the belt sections adjusted to their shortest posit-ion.

In FIG. 1, the sanitary belt 10 is shown with the normal metal adjustment buckles 11 and with the normal triangular metal tab clip 12 which connects the two adjustable belt portions 13 and 14 which form the waistband. Ordinarily, the belt is made of extensible material, such as fabric covered elastic. The two dependent tabs 15 and 16, positioned, respectively, at the rear and front of the belt, each comprises two tapes having respective fabric tape sections 17 and 18, the first section 17 (type B) constituting also part of the waistband being formed along one face with a multitude of nylon hooks or loops, and the other section 18 (type A) being formed along one face with a multitude of highly tufted nylon fibers. The two tape sections 17 and 18 form an infinitely variable adjustment means to alter the lengths of the dependent tabs 15 and 16.

The tape section 17 of rear tab 15 is shown as stitched to the belt 10, while the tape section 18 of said tab is looped around a sanitary napkin attaching clip 19. The tape section 17 of front tab 16 is shown as looped around the triangular connecting clip 12 and the tape section 18 of said tab is looped around another sanitary napkin attaching clip 20.

In FIG. 2 there are shown the two types of tape, the type A having a multitude of tufts 21 placed upon a nylon backing 22 and making up the tape section 18 shown in FIG. 1. The other tape section 17 is shown as made up of the type B tape having a multitude of nylon loops or hooks 23 on a nylon backing 24. It is readily discernible from FIGS. 3 and 4 how these two tape sections 17 and 18 may be placed face to face and when pressed together caused to interlock with each other throughout their contacting area.

In FIG. 5 is shown a partial view of the extensible belt 10 with a dependent tab made up of a short length of type A tape 25stitched to a short length of type B tape 26 and placed over the belt 10 and interlocked with the tape 25, thereby securing the tab to the belt without sewing or stitching it to the belt.

In FIG. 6 is shown an alternate method of attaching the dependent tab to the belt. Here, the type A tape 28 is used on the belt to define one part of the tab and the type B tape 27 used on the other part of the tab, thus doing away with the triangular clip 12.

In FIG. 7 is shown a new method of using the type A and type B tape to permit the adjustment of the belt 10 around the torso of the wearer. The tapes 29 and 30 are stitched to the extensible material 10 of the belt and are here shown in a fully extended position and interlocked with each other. When this method of adjustment is used, the adjusting clips 11 and triangular clip 12 are eliminated and the dependent tabs fastened right to the belt as shown in either FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 as desired. FIG. 8 shows the adjusting tapes 29 and 30 in a fully closed up position and locked in place.

From the foregoing, it can readily be seen that a new and novel means of adjusting both the waistband and the dependent tabs has been disclosed. Lengthening or shortening of the tabs and the waistband is simply accomplished by peeling the fabric tape sections apart, and then rejoining them together at the proper position by the use of finger pressure to lock them together again. The only length limitation involved is the amount of material that is allowed to overlap. The adjustment once made remains fixed and is not subject to slippage as was encountered with the old adjustment means.

The advantages of the adjustment means disclosed herein for use on santitary belts are three fold. The first is that the sanitary belt can be washed without any trouble and with no thought of taking special care of the adjustment means as was necessary heretofore. The second is that the belt is more readily adjusted even when on than could be accomplished before. The third is that the belt also becomes more economical to manufacture than has heretofore been possible.

What is claimed is:

l. A sanitary belt device having a waistband and a pair of depending tabs connected thereto in the front and rear sides respectively of said waistband for connection to a sanitary napkin, at least one of said tabs forming an adjustable part of the belt device and comprising a pair of fastener tapes constituting separable lengths of the adjustable tab and having confronting faces, a section of one of said tapes having a multitude of tuft-like elements distributed over and projecting from its face, a section of the other tape having a multitude of catch elements distributed over and projecting from its face and adapted to automatically lock with said tuft-like elements to hold said sections against relative movements lengthwise of said tape sections in fixed adjusted positions when said tape sections are brought together face to face, said sections being readily separable from each other by peeling them apart and being substantially long to permit them to be brought together into interlocking engagement with overlaps of selected lengths to permit substantial adjustments in the effective combined lengths of said tapes and thereby in the length of the adjustable tab, one end portion of said adjustable tab being adapted to be attached to the napkin, the other end portion being adapted to be folded over the waistband and constituting one of said fabric tape sections, the interlocking of which with the other fabric tape section permits said other end portion to be attached adjustably to the Waistband.

2. A sanitary belt device having a Waistband and a pair of depending tabs connected thereto in the front and rear sides respectively of said waistband for connection to a sanitary napkin, at least one of said tabs forming an adjustable part of the belt device and comprising a pair of fastener tapes constituting separable lengths of the adjustable tab and having confronting faces, a section of one of said tapes having a multitude of tuft-like elements distributed over and projecting from its face, a section of the other tape having a multitude of catch elements distributed over and projecting from its face and adapted to automatically lock with said tuft-like elements to hold said sections against relative movements lengthwise of said tape sections in fixed adjusted positions when said tape sections are brought together face to face, said sections being readily separable from each other by peeling them apart and being substantially long to permit them to be brought together into interlocking engagement with overlaps of selected lengths to permit substantial adjustments in the effective combined lengths of said tapes and thereby in the length of the adjustable tab, one end portion of the adjustable tab being adapted to be attached to the napkin, the other end portion being adapted to extend from below the bottom edge of the waistband on the rear side of the waistband and upwardly across the rear face of the waistband and to be folded across the top edge of the waistband and downwardly across the outer face of the waistband, said other tab end portion when so folded extending downwardly beyond the bottom edge of the waistband to define one of said tape sections, the part of the adjustable tab which is adapted to extend on the rear side of the waistband and which is adapted to be located below the bottom edge thereof constituting the other of said tape sections, the latter tape section when placed in face contact with said one tape section in said folded position of said other end portion of the tab connecting said other end portion of the tab to the waistband.

3. A sanitary belt device having a waistband and a pair of depending tabs connected thereto in the front and rear sides respectively of said waistband for connection pf a sanitary napkin, at least one of said tabs forming an adjustable part of the belt device and comprising a pair pf fastener tapes constituting separable lengths of the adjustable tab and having confronting faces, a section of one of said tapes having a multitude of tuft-like elements distributed over and projecting from its face, a section of the other tape having a multitude of c atch elements distributed over and projecting from its face and adapted to automatically lock with said tuft-like elements to hold said sections against relative movements lengthwise of said tape sections in fixed adjusted positions when said tape sections are brought together face to face, said sections being readily separable from each other by peeling them apart and being substantially long to permit them to be brought together into interlocking engagement with overlaps of selected lengths to permit substantial adjustments in the effective combined lengths of said tapes and thereby in the length of the adjustable tab, the Waistband having a portion constituting one of said tape sections, one end portion of the tab which constitutes an adjustable part of the belt device being adapted to be attached to the napkin, the other end portion containing the other of said tape sections being adapted to be placed in face contact with said one tape section to adjustably connect said other end portion of the adjustable tab to said waistband.

4. A sanitary belt device having a Waistband and a pair of depending tabs connected thereto in the front and rear sides respectively of said Waistband for connection to a sanitary napkin, at least one of said tabs forming an adjustable part of the belt device and comprising a pair of fastener tapes constituting separable lengths of the adjustable tab and having confronting faces, a section of one of said tapes having a multitude of tuft-like elements distributed over and projecting from its face, a section of the other tape having a multitude of catch elements distributed over and projecting from its face and adapted to automatically lock with said tuft-like elements to hold said sections against relative movements lengthwise of said tape sections in fixed adjusted positions when said tape sections are brought together face to face, said sections being readily separable from each other by peeling them apart and being substantially long to permit them to be brought together into interlocking engagement with overlaps of selected lengths to permit substantial adjustments in the elfective combined lengths of said tapes and thereby in the length of the adjustable tab, the waistband having a portion constituting one of said tape sections and having its outer side constituting one of said confronting faces, one end portion of the tab which constitutes the adjustable part of the belt device being adapted to be attached to the napkin, the other end portion being adapted to extend upwardly across the rear face of the waistband and to be folded over the top edge of the waistband and downwardly across the outer face of the waistband, the part of said other end portion of the tab which extends across the outer face of the waistband constituting the other of said tape sections, and the inner face of the latter part constituting the other of said confronting faces, said tape sections when in face contact with each other in said folded position of said other end portion of the adjustable tab connecting said other end portion of the adjustable tab to the waistband.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,499,898 Anderson Mar. 7, 1950 5, 2,541,629 Woods Feb. 13, 1951 2,593,791 Pitton Apr. 22, 1952 2,717,437 De Mestral Sept. 13, 1955 OTHER REFERENCES 

